


This Sickness in My Bones

by holdyourbreathfornow



Series: HYBFN Freak Fam Stuff [7]
Category: Freak Fam - Fandom
Genre: Banter, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, NO DEATH, Pneumonia, Sickness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-28 02:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20418245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holdyourbreathfornow/pseuds/holdyourbreathfornow
Summary: Disaster’s tired of getting sick, and keeps trying to work through it.  That only makes it worse...





	This Sickness in My Bones

When Disaster was young, she got sick a lot, and every time she got sick, she always wondered,  _ ‘Is this it? Is this how I die?’ _ She would cough up blood and mucus and burn with fever, but she always got better.

It had made sense when they diagnosed her with immunodeficiency. It had sucked, and Disaster thought she could feel the weakness in her body, but it had also made some things clearer for her.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons she’d run away from home. A combination of her own weakness and her family being overprotective made her afraid and then she was angry at her own fear and at her family for enforcing this fear time and time again. Disaster was tired of being afraid, and Los Santos was going to learn that the hard way.

And then she had fallen in with the Freak Fam. This wild, disorganized mess of a gang had looked at her, had really SEEN her, all her flaws and her misgivings and occasional bouts of self-loathing. And then they had collectively went, ‘Cool, welcome to the party.’

And in return, she had done everything she could to help them, by hiring Vinny that first time, by introducing them to her family (without actually telling the Freak Fam the Fakes they were now working under were her family) and she never stopped moving and working.

But when Disaster had woken up with a sore throat and a heavy chest, she had sighed and crawled out of bed, ignoring the raised eyebrow Shirk sent her way as she muffled her coughs in her arm. 

She loved her three date mates, she really did, and so naturally she had told them about her immunodeficiency. But they had never seen how badly it affected her, how weak it made her, and so they gave her the greatest gift they could’ve, after she revealed her painful secret: They continued to act like nothing had changed, not even batting an eye every time Disaster had so much as sneezed.

-

It was easy enough to pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary. Ace and Vinny had bought her ‘allergies’ excuse easily enough when she’d started coughing at breakfast, but she wasn’t sure if she’d convinced Shirk. Then again, he was a suspicious bastard by nature, so she wasn’t exactly worried about it.

“What’s on the agenda today for our lovely Lady of Chaos?” Vinny asked, sharing a waffle with Ace, who was busy drowning their half of it in syrup and chocolate chips.

“Well, depends on what’s on your schedule.” Disaster winked at Vinny, who tilted their head curiously in spite of the fierce blush that had flamed to life. “There’s a businessman who’s looking for a janitor that can handle… sensitive situations, and I need some information he’s willing to give up in exchange for you taking the job.”

“Sounds like fun!” Ace chirped and wiped off the syrup that was dripping down from their mouth with the back of their hand.

“You’re disgusting.” Shirk told them and they grinned with closed lips. “Disaster, are you sure you trust Vinny working for this guy? He sounds pretty fucking shady.”

“Oh, there’s no way in Hell I trust the bitch.” Disaster shook her head and pulled her phone out of her pocket, pulling a picture up before setting it in the middle of the table.

The picture was of a guy who bore a startling similarity to Wilson Fisk from Into the Spiderverse, right down to the fact that he was built like a brick shithouse.

“Jesus Christ!” Ace giggled and reached out to poke at the picture, though Vinny batted their hand away before they could get any syrup on Disaster’s phone. “Oh my god, he looks like he would be so much fun to wrestle.”

“You are not allowed to wrestle the businessman.” Shirk said in a monotone as he mixed himself another cup of coffee, then he had to stop and blink. “Wow, there’s a fucking sentence I never thought I’d have to say.”

Vinny looked a little nervous at the prospect of working for the man on Disaster’s phone, and she reached out to curl their fingers together as Shirk and Ace continued to banter next to them. 

“Hey.” They looked up and she smiled. “Do you trust me?” They scoffed.

“Of course I do! What kinda bastard do you take me for, Jesus.” Disaster laughed so hard she had to stop and cough for a second, but she was able to keep going readily enough. 

“Then trust that I know how to handle this situation. This guy’s a fuckin’ pushover, I could walk in there alone and put a bullet between his eyes, easy as pie. But there are a couple things that stop me from doing this.” She lifted the hand that wasn’t currently holding Vinny’s and started ticking off the fingers. 

“One: He’s got some connections with the Roosters, and I really don’t need Uncle Burnie flying down from New York and lecturing me about killing one of his informants. Two: I’m on a murder break because of a bet I’ve got going with my dad. And finally, 3: This guy ain’t worth the fucking bullet. I’ve seen bigger scumbags walking down the street on my way to get a goddamn bagel. He just likes to think he’s hot shit, and nobody’s bothered to correct him yet.”

Vinny snorted and Disaster’s grin grew. She always considered making one of her datemates laugh an accomplishment, and it helped her ignore the growing heaviness in her chest and the way it felt like her throat was closing up little by little.

“Yeah, I’ll help you.” They told her once they’d stopped laughing. They sat back in their chair and scrubbed at their face. “Sounds like you got a lot of pent-up aggression towards this guy.”

“Ah, he’s an asshole to his secretary.” Disaster waved the comment off, quietly deciding to keep his repeated sexual propositions to herself. She wanted this day to go smoothly, and having the other three on a rampage made her tired just thinking about it. 

“Fair enough. Alright, I’m done eating. I’ll grab my stuff and meet you at your car.” They stood and came around the table to kiss her forehead. She closed her eyes and the two of them stood there for a moment before Vinny pulled away. “And take some allergy meds, you sound like you’re wheezing.” She was, and suddenly she was slightly worried about how her getting sick might impact her plans for the day.

“I’ll do that.” She assured Vinny, and they nodded and left. She continued eating, though her breakfast tasted like ash and cardboard, and even drinking from the bottle of water she had sent tiny pinpricks of pain racing down her throat and throughout her chest. 

Ace wandered off at some point, and it was just her and Shirk, sitting pressed shoulder to shoulder.

“Are you getting sick?” Shirk asked finally, as he finished up his breakfast and Disaster sighed, nodding as her shoulders dropped. Whether it was in relief that someone had picked up on it, or shame that she had to admit her shortcomings, she didn’t really know and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“I can work around it.” She told Shirk, who looked distinctly unimpressed.

“You should stay home if you’re getting sick.”

“I can’t, Carlisle will think something’s up if I cancel suddenly, and then I won’t be able to schedule another meeting for months.”

“I don’t like this.” Shirk informed Disaster, who sighed and coughed when the sigh got caught on its way out.

“Trust me, I’m not any happier about this than you are.” Shirk leaned forward towards her and she let herself fall into his embrace, letting him mumble nonsense under his breath and plant kisses into her hair.

“You’re starting to get hot.” He pressed a hand to her forehead and she laughed.

“I was already hot, Shirk. But nice to know that you didn’t start dating me for my looks.” Her phone started ringing and she stood to leave, Shirk standing as well and catching her wrist. Disaster turned to look at him and he pinched his mouth tightly.

“Just… Take it easy today, and call me if you need anything. Promise?”

“I promise.” She told Shirk, kissing him before pulling away and answering her phone.

-

“Well, that sucks!” Vinny said cheerily and Disaster swore she’d never been closer to throwing this particular partner out of a window than at that very moment.

They were standing in the lobby of the office building Carlisle owned, right in front of the frankly ridiculous elevator bank. Every elevator was closed and the glass windows were dark, covered by a paper sign explaining they were all closed for maintenance.

“I guess we’ll just have to take the stairs. Can you do that with your allergies acting up, Disaster?” They asked her and she sighed, the breath heavy and wet and rasping on its way out. 

She was exhausted, in a way she hadn’t been in awhile, and it wasn’t the kind of tiredness that sleep could fix. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t even talk to Vinny, whose gaze was filling with concern the more Disaster wheezed as she tried to catch her breath.

“Okay, Sassy, I’m making an executive decision and we’re going to go sit on the bench while I call Shirk to come pick us up.” Vinny threw one of Disaster’s arms over their shoulders and carefully maneuvered her onto the cold wood of the bench.

Disaster’s fever was coming into full swing now, and she was freezing. Her teeth chattered and Vinny kneeled in front of her to brush her hair out of her face. As soon as their skin touched hers, they recoiled like the sheer amount of heat coming off of her had burned them.

“Shit, you’re burning up.” Vinny looked around and then down at the tool belt they had before telling Disaster to wait and hurrying over to the water fountain. 

-

Disaster had finally caught her breath and laid herself across the bench like it was a bed when Vinny came back with a cool washcloth which they carefully folded across her forehead.

“Okay, is there someone I need to call?” They asked and Disaster thought about it for a long second, letting her eyes fall closed as she focused on breathing. Maybe she’d dozed off for a second, because she opened her eyes to Vinny shaking her shoulder. “I called Ryan. He said he and Michael are on the way.”

“Hurts.” Disaster croaked, her throat wrecked and her entire body feeling like she’d been flattened by a truck and had cement poured over what was left. Vinny’s eyebrows pinched in sympathy and they reached out to move Disaster’s head in their lap, gently running their fingers through her hair, which a small part of her was sure was a sweaty mess, but the bigger part of her was trying not to fall back asleep.

“I don’t think this is allergies, Sassy.” Vinny said finally and Disaster shook her head. 

“I thought… I could work through it.” Vinny nodded understandingly, but then their eyes widened.

“This is why you told us about you being immunocompromised. In case something like this happened.”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded and dissolved into another coughing fit, Vinny hurrying to help her sit up and handing her a handkerchief (later she’d wonder where they got that, especially considering it was monogrammed with initials that weren’t theirs) for her to cough into. When she finally stopped, the handkerchief was dotted with blood. “Oh, that’s not good.” 

“Fuck.” Vinny took the handkerchief from Disaster and put it in one of their pockets. “Okay, Sassy, I need you to stay awake for me, okay?”

“Tired.” Disaster sighed and Vinny carefully cupped her face in their hands.

“I know, I know. God, I know. But, please.  _ Stay awake. Don’t close your eyes!”  _ Disaster opened her eyes again at the panicked note in Vinny’s voice and reached out to grab their hand. 

“Okay, help me-” she stopped to cough, “-help me sit up. Can’t fall asleep as easily. How far away’s the cavalry?”

The sound of tires screeching filled the air and Disaster could see 00M0GAR squeal up to the front door, the doors opening to let her dad and uncle out of the car, both of them in their heisting get-up. Thankfully they weren’t waving their guns around. Disaster was not in the mood to be in the middle of a car chase.

As soon as the two men were through the door, Vinny waved a hand to catch their attention and Ryan’s gaze snapped to them. Michael followed a little ways behind, pausing to growl at a security guard who had recognized them.

“How’s she doing?” Ryan asked Vinny, dropping to his knees and carefully brushing Disaster’s hair out of her face, ignoring the glare she fixed him with as he carefully pressed the back of his hand to her cheek.

“She… Is still here, no matter what it may look like.” Disaster snapped and tried to get to her feet, progress impeded by another coughing fit that left her doubled over and gasping. 

“Hey, Disaster.” Her uncle walked over and settled on his haunches next to Ryan. “You sound like shit.” Disaster, still trying to catch her breath, settled for flipping him off.

“Okay, I’m going to carry you.” Ryan waited for Disaster’s nod of acknowledgement before he continued giving directions. “Michael, you drive. Vinny, you’re in the passenger seat.”

“Gotcha. C’mon, janitor, you’re with me.” The other two headed for the car as Ryan lifted his daughter easily into his arms.

“Hope you weren’t busy today.” Disaster muttered, though it sounded more like she was choking on her own tongue. 

“Never too busy for you, of course.”

“Bull.” Disaster wheezed a laugh and Ryan rolled his eyes.

“Okay, we just finished a heist, so we got a couple days off, is that the answer you wanted?” Michael was holding the door open and Ryan helped Disaster in before jumping in and slamming the door closed behind them.

“Close enough.” Disaster coughed again and Ryan worried at how long it took her to get her breath back, and the way she looked drawn and pale, though there were specks of red on her lips and chin, and her throat was starting to bruise like someone had choked her. 

“How long-”

“Almost there.” Michael said, pressing the accelerator of his car as far as it would go and pressing Vinny back into their seat. “Janitor, did you already call the other two? The dragon dude and the nutjob?”

“They’re gonna meet us at the penthouse.” Michael nodded and spared a glance over his shoulder at Ryan and Disaster, the latter of the two struggling to keep her eyes open. 

-

“Put her on the stretcher.” Caleb, the Fakes’ personal well-trained doctor, was the first one to meet the quartet as soon as the elevator opened. He had a nurse, face covered by a mask, standing on the other side of the stretcher. Ryan lowered his daughter onto the stretcher and Michael placed a hand on his shoulder as it rattled away down the hall.

The three remaining people continued on into the penthouse, where Geoff was standing at the bar mixing drinks. While normally the crime boss would be laughing and jeering with the others as he did so, now the room was quiet and grim.

“I’m not drinking.” He assured Michael and Ryan as they came in, before he pushed glasses into Michael and Vinny’s hands, and tossed Ryan a can of Diet Coke. “I just needed something to do with my hands.”

“How was she?” Jack asked, standing up from the couch and coming towards them.

“Barely awake, coughing up blood.”

“Fuck, she hasn’t had it that bad in awhile.” Geoff groaned and got himself a can of Coke. “When did it start?”

“She thought it was just allergies this morning-” Vinny started, but the door opened suddenly and Shirk and Ace walked in. Michael looked around and down at the drink in his hands before he left, taking the drink with him, so he could avoid an awkward, potentially loud conversation/argument.

“She knew she was sick.” Shirk told them and Ryan shook his head, glaring at the can of Diet Coke in his hand like it was what was making his daughter sick. “She thought she could work through it.”

“Disaster gets her workaholic tendancies from you, I hope you know this.” Jack told Ryan, who waved her off. Vinny was starting to look upset as well.

“She said it was allergies!”

“You know Disaster, she was trying to keep you focused, trying to keep you safe.” While Shirk consoled Vinny and sat the two of them down on a couch, Ace wandered over to Geoff and the others. 

“Any news from the doc?”

“At this point, it’s more of a waiting game.” Geoff told them and led them over to the bar. “Nothing to do but sit and watch.”

-

It was after several hours had passed, during which the sun had gone down and the sky had turned an inky shade of blue, that Caleb finally came back into the room, peeling off bloodstained gloves and chugging a Monster energy drink like his life depended on it.

“Now, before you go hounding me for news on her condition, she’s alive and I’m dead on my feet, so give me a second.” He chucked the empty can into a trashcan and went to the fridge, rummaging around until he re-emerged with another can, which he cracked open and sipped at much more sedately.

“Any day now.” Shirk snipped and Caleb lowered his drink and flipped Shirk off, Ace holding the angered man back from physically attacking the doctor. 

“She has a case of pneumonia. We got the liquid out of her lungs and got her on some antibiotics. The blood was from how much she was coughing, tore up her throat pretty good. Put her on some painkillers for that. Other than that, she’s fine. Not gonna die immediately, but she’s still pretty weak so no visitors for the next twelve hours.” 

“And after that?”

“After that, she’s free to go home. Bed rest for maybe a week, and no heisting until that cough is gone, I don’t need her bleeding into her lungs again.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t want that either.” Ryan said wryly and Caleb nodded, completely oblivious to the sarcasm in the other man’s voice.

“I’d ask her, but she’s currently passed the fuck out.”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t as oblivious as he was acting. 

“Thank you for taking care of her, Caleb.” Jack walked forward and shook the doctor’s hand. He smiled thinly and nodded.

“Trust me, I’ve been treating that kid since Ryan walked in here with her swinging in a bassinet. I love her. Of course I’ll take care of her.” Then he walked out the door, still drinking the energy drink. 

Geoff sighed.

“The three of you can stay until Disaster wakes up. The couch is a pull-out. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to bed.”

“Good night.” Jack kissed Ryan on the cheek and followed Geoff out of the room. There was a moment’s pause before she poked her head back in. “I’ll call the others, let them know what happened.”

“Thanks, Jack.” She nodded and left, and then it was just Ryan and the other three. He stared at them for a long second before settling onto the arm of the couch. “So do you have any questions?”

“How often does she get sick?” Vinny asked, after a moment’s hesitation.

“Not very often, if she takes care of herself like she’s supposed to.” At that, Ryan raised an eyebrow. “But from some of the stories I’ve heard, the Freak Fam isn’t exactly a shining example of self-care.”

“I would argue with that, but you’re right.” Ace cracked their neck and sank a little further into the couch.

“Exactly my point.” Ryan sighed. “Listen, I can’t ask you to take care of yourselves, and I can’t even really get onto you for lack of self care because that would make me a hypocrite.” He spread his hands helplessly and looked at the Freak Fam. “All I can ask you to do is take care of my kid. It’s bad enough she’s living a life of crime I never wanted for her. But the fact she could die from the common fucking cold-” He cut himself off and shook his head. Vinny leaned forward slightly, one of their hands held by Shirk.

“Ryan, you know we love Disaster. She’s one of us and we’ll always have her back.”

“Of course we’ll watch out for her and try to keep her safe.” Shirk chimed in, and Ace nodded vehemently on his other side.

“That’s all I can ask.” Ryan passed out a couple blankets and dimmed the lights, leavig the other three to curl up on the couch together, Shirk pulling out his phone since he wasn’t planning on sleeping anytime soon. “...Thank you.”

Shirk looked up and the light from his phone threw strange shadows across the severe planes of his face.

“I think we have a lot more to thank you for than you do us.” Then he turned his attention back to his phone and the two date mates sprawled in his lap. “Good night.” 

And with that, Ryan headed to his room to try and sleep.


End file.
